Momentous Work

I truly believe that ignorance is bliss. I believe there are times starting things without a clue as to the work involved is a good thing.

Being full of uneducated optimism, we start down a path. We don't ask people who know, who have followed this path before, because they might say, "Wow, you have no idea what you taking on." And they might tell us, and burst our bubble. Or if they do tell us, we don't listen, being so full of our wonderful idea.

Bringing an idea into the world, whether it be a novel or a business or a painting, is hard enough work without knowing the full extent of the effort. Having the courage to take things on and start, one little bit at a time, can sometimes seem momentous on its own. Once you are caught up in the wave of creative expression, you find you believe in your idea and want to make it work, at any cost. You are willing to surmount any obstacle to get it done and out in the world.

I've learned a small piece of this truth lately, with my Find Your Eye class. I'm celebrating a little bit this week because I finished the final edits on the course two days ago. Yes, the class has already started, we are in week three. No, my schedule did not go as planned. "Finishing" ended up being much more work than I expected. Than my family expected. Most of my free time in the last month was spent in editing, rewriting and finalizing the material. Considering I work full time, have a family and we travel quite a bit, that was limited time.

Would I do it again? Absolutely, in a heartbeat. I am so proud of how the material has come together into a cohesive whole. I am loving the class, seeing these ideas and tools in the hands of new people who are finding value in them. I know that this was the right thing for me to do.

Would I have started, had I known the real work involved? It's hard to know, but I suspect not. If I had known I would give up so much of my precious free time in Italy for this at the outset, I might have thought, "Oh, I'll just start that when I move back to Oregon." The problem is, I needed to do it now, while the ideas where real and fresh to me. So, like any starry-eyed person with an idea, I started without knowing the effort involved.

I believe that this is one of life's little tricks, to allow us begin on a path without knowing the full extent of work we will have to do. It may be the only way to get us invested at the outset, so that we bring new, good, amazing ideas into the world to share. If we truly knew the cost, we might stay on the couch and read a book. Instead, we create.

Ignorance is bliss. I'm a firm believer. How about you?